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Evening Reading
by Garnett Lee, Feb 04, 2011 5:00pm PSTAnother NFL season comes to a close this weekend with what looks like an epic game in the making. For the ensuing months after ends, I won't forget about sports completely. I'll get into March Madness, watch the NBA Finals--and maybe some playoff games if there's a good matchup, take in a few baseball games. But really, I'll be flirting with these other sports to tide me over until training camp gets going marking the beginning of the new season.
I wonder if the same sort of thing happens to gamers with more specific tastes than mine. Like, does an Oblivion fan fool around with Borderlands sort of half engaged while waiting for Skyrim? It's hard for me to judge because I like a wide range of games and the problem I always face is deciding which ones get my time.
While we ponder this and other grandiose questions, here are the highlights from today's video game news on the Shack:
For me, as a PC gamer, it determines what hoops I'll have to jump through, and perhaps an idea of what post-release support there will be. Here's the quick list:
Ubisoft: mandatory UPlay.com login, persistent connection DRM
EA: mandatory EA.com login for multiplayer (but sometimes also as activation DRM), one-time codes for multiplayer, sometimes other activation DRM
THQ: varies, and they've been using Steamworks for some titles, but Danny Bilson mentioned one-time codes for multiplayer
2K: a history of third-party activation DRM, heavy emphasis on DLC locking most games into GFWL
Microsoft: Games for Windows Live
Activsion's releases have been rather good in this respect, either going with CD check only, or Steamworks. Bethesda also seems to be going with Steamworks, with Fallout New Vegas and Brink.
For me, that's the major reason why I care about publisher's lineups: because it sometimes dictates whether I'll want to buy the game or not, depending on what DRM and/or online authentication service the game uses.
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